Days before Yesterday
by we are the grapes
Summary: London was the first to be contaminated. Dan just so happens to be there when the infection hits.
1. Realisation

**i had some inspiration and this is what i wrote**

* * *

><p>Dan lay between the covers of a bed, staring endlessly into the ceiling in front of him. The faded glow in the dark stars stuck in no real order obtained his full attention, though they didn't notably do anything to entertain his feverish mind. He had always had a problem with sleeping, since childhood - but it was always worse when he was staying round a friend's house, or a foreign hotel room – where the beds were lumpy and god knows what was lurking inside the bathroom.<p>

Though Dan tried as hard as he could to keep his thoughts during the hours of restlessness light hearted and meaningless, he often found himself contemplating things that scared him, fears and worries that only surfaced in the early hours of the morning. On this night, for example – he was day – _night_ dreaming of a world where humans were endangered, after a superior race had easily taken over and managed to enslave most that survived -

An ambulance passed by the window from the across the room, the blue lights of the siren lighting up the room ominously for a few short seconds. Dan's line of thought broke altogether, making him uncomfortably alert to the surroundings he lay in.

Visiting London was great and all, Dan generally enjoyed the hustle and bustle of city life, but the constant wails of traffic became irritating to say the least. Another siren sped past the window.

The lump beside Dan's form covered in the duvet the two were sharing rose up and down steadily. Without warning, the figure suddenly pulled on the covers –tearing them from Dan entirely and leaving an uncomfortable chill across his body. Following this, a snore that reverberated through the narrow room started up and any hope of Dan gaining any sleep before the sunrise was lost.

The adolescent boy sighed and shifted from the bed into an upright position, his head swimming uneasily with the speed at which he rose. The faint light from the window barely illuminated the room enough for him to stand up and stumble out of the bedroom carefully. Despite his efforts however, Dan reached his destination with two stubbed toes and a mild headache starting to emerge. Not bothering to switch on the room's harsh light, Dan made his way instead to the fridge, in search of any kind of food or drink that would help to calm his mind into at least a mild hibernation.

Upon finishing a surprisingly satisfying mixture of orange juice and organic strawberry yoghurt, Dan shut the fridge forcefully and prepared to head back into the bedroom when something made him stop in his tracks. An almighty _CRASH _resonated within the kitchen walls, followed by a load of howling police sirens, and though it sounded as though it was perhaps a whole street away; Dan's heart rate picked up quickly as he padded back, unsettled and anxious.

The crash had alerted more than just Dan it seemed, as upon entering the bedroom – the duvet lay dumped across the floor beside the bed and the lump that inhabited it was moaning gaudily underneath. Dan chuckled softly to himself and walked up to the pile, pulling off the heavy duvet and smirking at the response he received.

Chris Kendall covered his head with his hands and sprawled out across the bedroom's carpet, only to recline back into himself when the cold of the floor became apparent to his bare skin. After a few seconds of Dan prodding him with his feet, Chris finally sat up and opened his eyes; face scrunched up and slow to react from being woken so suddenly.

"What the ever-loving _fuck _was that?" He slurred, referring to the crash Dan had just caught and standing up, gazing into the doorway at nothing in particular. Before Dan could answer however, another powerful _CRASH _shattered the quiet of the early morning and made both of the boys jump up in surprise.

Unlike the previous, this one was _much _closer. Dan could hear the sound of car alarms, distressed shouts, screams and what he thought were _groans _coming from downstairs, but was far too panicked to go outside and check.

"Shit." Chris turned his attention towards the window.

"What's happening down there?" He questioned, voice breaking slightly and eyes growing wide. He hobbled over to the window now, trying to catch a glimpse at the street below – though the height from the building stopped him from seeing anything but the flats and buildings that lay opposite.

When his efforts became worthless, Chris huffed and began waddling around the room at some speed, gathering clothes as he went. Once he started getting changed into something that wasn't an old Zelda t-shirt and orange boxers, Dan took the hint that he should probably follow in his steps and get ready to face whatever the hell was going on beyond the flat doors. He rummaged through his backpack that contained almost everything he'd thought he'd need on this weekend trip, bar things that just wouldn't fit, and looked for some half decent clothes to put on.

A full half an hour later (it would have been less, but Dan had turned the flat upside down searching for his straighteners and Chris wouldn't leave the kitchen without breakfast), the two boys stepped out into the cool night air. Dan's thin cotton t-shirt and sweatpants let in the autumn breeze with a chill that made him shiver violently and wish he'd brought the coat his mum had recommended so many times. But the warmth of his clothing choices became last thing on his mind when they each saw the mess that was the busy London Street.

Pure, untameable chaos was the best way to describe it – Dan thought as he and Chris looked on in horror at the scene lay before them. At least 4 cars lay in flames, having crashed into various buildings and street posts, and yet the traffic wasn't being been controlled – as more and more cars tried to rush through the street. Why were they all so eager to get out? Dan's fight or flight reflex had already started to kick in, and he was just seconds away from running back into the flat and hiding under Chris's duvet so he could pretend that none of this was actually happening.

The encouragement needed for Dan to drag Chris's sorry behind with him also lay with the middle aged woman that came running up to the both of them, clearly distressed and crying at them for help. Chris, being the helpful sort of person that he was, tried amply to calm her down – but before he could invite her in for a cup of tea (which of course Dan would have had only _some _objections to), she stopped her frantic shouts and froze suddenly. Taking this as a victory, Chris looked towards Dan who was standing somewhat away from the crazy woman, and gave him a reassuring grin/wink combo. Seconds later, without any warning and scaring Chris half to death, the woman began wheezing violently, clawing at Chris's t-shirt for something to steady herself on. Ditching his gentlemanly persona, Chris pushed her away from his form in fright and watched on in dread as she failed to catch herself – instead collapsing straight onto the filthy London pavement they all stood on.

Dan had seen enough. He pulled Chris forcefully back towards the door leading inside, ignoring the prominent lack of movement and _breathing _from the woman or the sickly white tone to Chris's ever draining expression. They ran up the stairs, though a complete lack of fitness they had both achieved meant they were each out of breath by the time they reached Chris's flat door. He fumbled with his keys for a few seconds before bombing into the hallway and hurrying into the bedroom, where the comfort of a dim room and a bed awaited them. Chris flopped straight onto the soft duvet while Dan stood fixed, somewhat awkwardly in the doorway. The images of disarray outside replayed in his head like a constant loop of video footage, and he didn't like it.

"_Damn_." The sound of Chris's voice ripped Dan out of his thoughts and back into the small bedroom his was staring into.

"Dan?" He looked down at the bed across the room. "What's going on?" Chris had since reverted back into his blanket cocoon, stretched out across the bed with his head slipping off, faced upside down. Usually, Dan would take this opportunity to call Chris childish and roll him off the bed, laughing at how stupid he looked as he flailed about to escape the duvet prison. His mind however was focused on a thought that made his stomach plummet and jump out of his throat all at the same time.

His parents. Were they okay? And his brother for that matter, though Adrian could usually handle himself well enough – if London had been put in such a situation of anarchy, who knows what it was like down in Berkshire. A sudden urge to speak to his brother surfaced and he felt a wave of nausea wash over him.

"Chris, turn on the TV." Dan sat down by the bed and stared at the black screen as it slowly switched on and began playing.

"Which channel?" He asked, flicking through with the remote.

"I don't think it's going to matter." Dan replied, voice barely over a whisper.

Chris settled at BBC1 and on screen, the news was playing. A stern looking female reporter holding several sheets of paper spoke unusually slowly, avoiding eye contact with the camera almost entirely,

"_82 reported cases of the epidemic have already spread around Central London, and have thought to have originated following the recent protests of the increasingly rare and often fatal blood disease amyloidosis cures being tested on mice within local laboratories, thought to still have a dangerously contagious strain of the disease when released into the streets of London late last night-"_

"What the fuck is all this about?" Chris exclaimed, though when there was no reply and Dan only looked on intently at the TV, Chris followed suit and continued to listen,

"_- have issued warnings to stay inside unless absolutely necessary. All flights have been grounded nationwide for the purposes of safety and public transport is currently over-capacity. We repeat – do not – under any circumstances, make attempts to reach loved ones. Stay inside at all times and ensure –" _

Chris started talking again, going on about something or other – but Dan wasn't listening. All voices in the room fogged over as the news reporters last words echoed in Dan's mind. He stood up slowly, and found that he was shaking violently, his legs struggling to support the rest of his body. If before he was mildly concerned, he was now growing frantic at the safety of his parents and brother. He felt himself go numb, shouts from Chris heard from miles away. His vision started to blur, his skin started to burn up and he could hear is heartbeat _so _very loudly in his head.

All at once Dan felt his legs finally give over and his body tumble ungracefully towards the closest object, which just so happened to be Chris sitting atop the bed, now focused on the TV a little too much to pay attention to his surroundings. As he did so, Dan's vision fell into darkness and the room around him span until he gave in to his bodies urges and slowly sunk into sweet unconsciousness.

When Dan came to what seemed like days later, he was lying on Chris's bed, though Chris was nowhere to be seen. The room was still dim, but the TV was turned off and a thin blanket had been placed around him, though it was now closer to falling to the floor than actually keeping him warm. He stood up dazedly and searched the flat for Chris, his mind struggling to recall why he had just woken up at half five in the morning with full clothing on. After a few minutes of this, a soft light coming from the small front room indicated that the other brunette was likely to be lazing around in there or something similar.

To Dan's surprise, Chris wasn't lounging around at all – he was rushing around the room with a great look of urgency on his face, something Dan hadn't actually seen before. When Chris finally noticed the puzzled boy standing – though he was closer to hunching - at the entrance of the room, he ran up to him and started fussing about like a worried mother,

"Dan! Are you okay man!? You were out for ages, so I just kinda left you on the bed…?" He ended his sentence with a question, as though he didn't know what he'd done when Dan had been left unconscious.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, don't worry." Dan's voice was shaky and unconvincing. He looked around the room and gestured to the mess Chris had created on the sofas.

"What's all this then? You packing for a secret holiday I don't know about?" Dan laughed, though it was so painfully put on that he had to stop just seconds later.

"Dan don't be stupid, you're coming with me." The seriousness in Chris's tone scared Dan, and he wasn't entirely sure with how to reply.

"But you heard the woman, she said-"

"I know what she said, but where did she _also _say all this shits started, huh?" Dan's memory was in an aggravatingly blank haze.

"London Dan, it's all started in fucking London! How cliché. If we stay here, something bad is going to happen, something much worse than if we just get the hell out of here." Chris had started packing his bag again; and Dan noticed with ease that another one had been placed beside it – presumably for him.

"Where exactly are we going then Chris?" Dan sat himself on the sofa and shut his eyes in an attempt to shut out the worries flooding back into his mind.

"Er…" Uncertainty tainted Chris's voice for the first time. "I guess we can head south or something. That's what they do in all the films." Dan sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"You have no idea what you're doing do you?"

"Well… it's better than fainting onto my bed and doing nothing!" Chris snapped and Dan lifted his head up in surprise. Reasons for his previously weak stature slammed into the pit of his gut once more, and he ignored Chris's remark in favour of finding his phone.

"Uh huh. Have you seen my phone anywhere?" Chris pointed to the table in the corner of the room. Picking it up, Dan struggled to unlock it and find his parents phone numbers. The signal from the tall London flat was poor, but the call rang out anyway and Dan's breathing almost stopped completely from the apprehension. When both his mums and dads mobiles rang into answerphone several times, he threw his phone onto the floor in frustration before remembering his brother. He swore impatiently at his phone as he picked it up and started the call until –

"_Hello?"_

"Adrian! Are you okay? Are you with mum and dad? Tell them I'm –"

"_H-hello? You're breaking up; I can't hear what you're saying."_

"It's the signal from Chris's flat, look Adrian –"

"_Joking. This is answerphone wankers. Call me later yeah?" _Dan felt sick. Adrian's answerphone – how could he forget? Instead of lashing out at his poor phone once more, he dropped to the floor sadly and sat still, staring at the wall in front of him. The numb feeling from earlier enveloped him once more. That was it, huh?

"Who you phoning?" Chris inquired lazily, as if he expected an equally casual response.

"Adrian. And mum. And dad."

"Oh shit. Are they okay?" The casual tone turned into an urgent one without a hitch, and Dan looked up at Chris with little expression on his face.

"I don't know." He said simply and plainly, but it was all Chris needed to understand what was so very wrong. Dan's dad had been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past few years, leaving only Dan and mum to care for him in the family home. Dan constantly worried about his parents whenever he wasn't around, and so his fears over the situation were entirely understandable. Chris knew he was going to have to take control of their plan, he could see Dan falling apart in front of him already and this was only the beginning. With a reassuring hand placed across Dan's shoulder, Chris tried to calm his nerves, if only for a little while,

"We'll go back to your house and find them, okay? It's not too far from here if we take the train."

This seemed to spark some sort of thought process within Dan's brain, as he sat up slightly and smiled at Chris thankfully. Chris breathed out a small sigh of relief; Dan at his worst wasn't something either of them needed to be dealing with right now. Without warning, Dan suddenly stood up and walked out of the room, only to return minutes later with his own bag and belongings in his hands.

"Right." He closed his eyes and breathed in before opening them again. "What else do I need to pack?"

For the second time that day, the two boys found themselves stepping out into the cool autumn air of early morning London. This time however, each knew what to expect – and it wasn't pretty. The traffic build up from earlier had reached its capacity, certainly no more cars were getting through the barricade of mangled vehicles formed from god knows what. No people were left wandering around, aside from the ones laid still across the pavements, giving the whole picture a horrifically eerie atmosphere. Dan had to pause and take it all in; it was so cliché he almost wanted to laugh – or cry.

Chris took a step forward, trying to advance into the street and survey the area. Before he could however, Dan stuck his arm out in front of him, effectively stopping him from going any further.

"…Dan? You okay?"

"Think of every film like this you've ever seen and look in front of you." Chris gave the taller boy a puzzled look, following Dan's line of eyesight carefully. The object or rather _thing _he was focused on meant the quick return of Chris's sickly white face. The woman from just a few hours ago was already considered middle age and therefore old in these young adults eyes, but the rate at which her limp body had begun to decay certainly wasn't normal.

The two waited anxiously, until Chris deemed the body harmless and strolled over to it. He nudged it a few times with his foot playfully and laughed.

"Chris!"

"What! She's dead anyway."

"Exactly! Get away from her you fucking idiot!"

Chris put his hands up in defence and rolled his eyes, making Dan huff in discontent. Before he could start to walk away from the corpse however, a sickly _groan _erupted into the air; and the twos arguing stopped instantly. Chris turned around, his eyes beginning to widen and his mouth dropping comically at the sight of the thing's decaying body as it began to try and _stand up_. Its limbs were clearly weakened from the infection, and after several attempts of standing, it gave up. Though it couldn't do much else but start to crawl towards the pair, it terrified the living _shit _out of Dan. Every single book, every single film he'd ever seen with… _the undead _were coming to life, and he didn't know what to do.

Chris however, apparently did – he backed away from the advancing thing and she – _it _– continued to groan and froth at the mouth, eyes unfocused and face sunken.

"Time to go Howell." He shouted, yanking Dan by the sleeve and running with him out into the open street. From there, they headed to the closest train station – avoiding main streets and not venturing far from the walls of buildings.

When they reached the station in the early afternoon, it was scene not dissimilar to the ones they had seen en route, except for one crucial detail. There were people. _Lots _of people, and every single one was in frenzy, trying desperately to get into the underground and leave the city behind them. Some were crying, others were shouting, and some were frozen still on the edge of a breakdown - Dan suspected silently. Every few minutes someone would collapse and the uproar would start again, making the already frantic crowd even more panicked. The sight of countless bodies being hauled away from the group carelessly made Dan want to hurl straight onto the pavement, but he didn't – if nothing but being fearful that people would believe he was infected, and haul him away like all the others.

Soon enough it became clear that the two had very little hope of actually stepping foot on any trains before the day was up, considering the mayhem it was just getting into the underground. Chris, however – decided for the both of them that it wasn't worth not trying, as their other available options didn't seem too promising. Being left stranded in the centre of London full of infected and dying people? No thanks.

Ignoring the shouts and shoves of the crowd as he and Dan started to force their way through, Chris murmured to Dan and pulled him closer,

"Make sure you get on one of those trains." He looked sternly Dan. "No matter what." The tone used was hushed yet dreadfully serious and it made Dan stare at the back of the shorter boys head in awe, a newfound respect for the usual joker of the friendship silently forming. No reply was needed; Dan only nodded in his direction and continued to plough through the mass, until they reached the foot of the stairs and started to head down.

Few of the lights leading into the underground were working, and the ones that were shined dimly, flickering every once in a while. Billboards and signs lay strewn about the place, most torn up so badly you could barely tell what they were advertising. Dan and Chris found themselves in a crowded flow of people, all pushing and shoving at each other to ahead of everyone else – not that it was making much of a difference. Dan swallowed and tried to keep his nerves calm, but the goosebumps forming on his skin and the cold sweat forming along his brow despite the stuffy temperatures told him it was going to be in vain.

After a good 20 minutes of being engulfed by the slow moving, _shuffling_ horde (which Dan was finding incredibly ironic already) they finally all filtered out onto the train's platforms, which were still running – constant trains arriving and departing every couple of minutes. Dan had been here enough times to know which trains went straight out of London and so he pointed to the right platform for Chris's sake only and hurried down to get on board one before it left, never to return – at least, until all of this had blown over. Something told Dan that wasn't going to be for a while. A _long _while.

If Chris had thought that rush hour pedestrian traffic was bad, this was on a whole different level. People were cramming themselves into the carriages without caring for the wellbeing of any others beside them, some even desperate enough to leave family and friends waiting on the platform – just as long as they were 'safe'. The selfishness of humans came into play when they had everything to lose Chris thought, smirking to himself. As he came closer to the madness himself, he realized he was going to be one of those pushing themselves forcefully into others for a place on the train, ignoring all other consequences. As he did so, he looked to his side in search of Dan, the only familiar face in the horde of strangers he was swamped by. To his surprise, Dan wasn't beside him – sparking an urge to panic for the taller boy's safety and start searching for him.

"Dan!" He shouted out, wondering if his voice could even be heard within such masses of people.

"Dan! Where are you!?" This was hopeless; Dan likely wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. Despite the gut instinct that began to yell at him for giving up on a friend so easily, Chris decided it would be for the best if he focused instead on getting himself a ticket out of London. The doors forced open by people flooding into the carriages were getting closer and closer, and Chris could see the train getting more and more full. Only a few spaces for people seemed to be left. Chris continued to move forward until he lifted up one foot in an attempt to lift himself on,

His foot didn't make it however, as a guy much larger than himself shoved it aside in favour of his own. Once he was on, laughing in Chris's face and pointing, he turned around with the goal of cramming himself further into the carriage. Chris couldn't do anything but watch as the final space on the train was torn from his grip, how many other trains were going train out of London? This would be harder without Dan.

"Hey asshole." A welcomingly familiar voice protruded through the crowd full of noise, and Chris's ears honed back in towards the train. The figure of Dan suddenly dominated over the guy, his towering height easily intimidating the other. The man in question gazed towards Dan and looked at him in disgust, as if he wasn't worth an answer. This only served to piss of the brunette even more, and his temper started to get the better of him,

"Learn to play nice, or get the fuck off the train."

In one swift shove, the man was tittering on the edge of the train doors – blocking everyone else from getting in. With an equally strong kick, he was rammed off the train completely, knocking down about 10 people in the process and leaving him unconscious across the floor. Chris managed to step back in time to avoid the bulldozer of a man as he ploughed the crowd down, waiting for them fall down in front of him. He then rushed back to the door entrance, where Dan was waiting with a queer little smile planted across his face that made Chris wonder what exactly going through his head. Dan rarely permitted violence, taking part in it was even rarer an occasion.

A shaky arm reached out in front of Chris and pulled him onto the train whilst people from the crowd looked on at the pair in shock. The doors finally closed, with no one left to block them and the carriage started moving, though noticeably slower than expected with the unusually large amount of people it was hauling miles underground. Dan and Chris looked at each other, breathing out a sigh of relief in unison. Though they were practically being squashed into the glass of the door, both were grateful to be heading out of the city.

"Uh, thanks man." Chris started,

"I don't know what would've happened if it wasn't for you and your _temper_." He teased, though the gratitude was sincere. Dan's returning grin told Chris that he knew how genuine he was being, though it lay completely between the lines, only a good friend would have been able to tell.

"Don't sweat it man, I had to make sure you got on one of these trains." He replied through a grin,

"No matter what."

* * *

><p><strong>long time no see oops but i hope ya'll like this (even though it's just dan and chris atm phil will be here soon don't worry omg) <strong>


	2. Rejection

**long time no see **

With the sluggish speed of the train, the prominent lack of fresh air as well as available space within the cramped carriage, both Dan and Chris found themselves impatient to get off the damn thing entirely. It was just over an hours journey (according to Chris, who apparently had been counting the whole way just to keep his mind somewhat occupied), which was far too long for Dan to be squeezed against the vehicles doors in the same increasingly uncomfortable and painful position. The ride was sombre, and very few people had the confidence or stupidity to start up a conversation, all of which ended abruptly - usually with a hushed but sharp 'shut up' in the subject's direction. Dan and Chris were easily neither confident nor stupid enough and so stood content with just a few (what they hoped to be) reassuring looks in each other's directions. It wasn't much, but for now – it was enough.

Though at this point neither of the two would have bothered to ask if anyone else was getting off at Wokingham just as they were, Dan doubted anyone would have answered even if they had. The town was still relatively close to London all things considered and Dan was sure everyone else was waiting to get further south, likely until they were nearer to the coastline. If it wasn't for his parents, he would have certainly been thinking the same. When the train started to slow down as it came closer to the desired destination, Dan almost forgot entirely what the movement of his limbs felt like, having been stiff for so long and he couldn't say he was looking forward to the feeling once more. An earsplittingly loud screech sounded and made the majority of the carriage cringe, though Dan could only feel relief as the floor beneath his feet finally ground to a halt. Now there was the problem of getting out.

With far too many frantic pushes of the small green 'open' button beside the doors, Chris kicked the metal panelling of the door for good measure before it started to open. As soon as the barrier the door provided was no longer there, both boys fell straight out onto the linoleum floor with little grace and a lot of moaning. Dan felt each of his joints click back into place with a sickening _crack _from each one, Chris cringing inwardly as he heard them from right beside his ears.

"Ewww! Don't do that man!" Instead of making any attempts to move from his position sprawled out on the floor; Chris thought a better use of his time would be to make disgusted faces at Dan's predicament.

"Shutup." _Crack._ "I'm the one actually _feeling _all this y'know." Dan winced as one final pull of his leg had put everything back into place.

"Yeah but the _sound _man, it's just _icky _– like a nails on a chalkboard deal."

Dan only rolled his eyes in response, in favour of standing up and surveying the station around them, leaving Chris to stare up at the tall ceiling dazedly. The train they had just got – or rather _fell _– off of had long since left, and no other trains seemed to passing by anytime soon. The quiet of the space wasn't unusual but the emptiness didn't sit right with the brown haired boy. Had everyone left already? Aside from that it was… well, normal.

Nothing was torn apart, or lying strewn across the floor and the lights were all working fine, illuminating the room with a wretchedly bright light that made Dan squint after having been in dim surroundings for the best part of the last few hours. As Dan pondered this, hair falling messily between his eyes, he noticed the set of stairs across the other end of the platform - likely leading out into the open air of Wokingham itself. Though Dan was never an impulsive or fast paced person, he figured silently that it was better to keep moving forward; especially given the circumstances they were under. The quicker they reached his parents' house the better. Looking down at Chris for conformation of leaving, Dan pulled the shorter boy to a disorientated standing position and began to step towards the stairs with a newfound sense of purpose and determination. Each had no idea what to expect once they were out there, with the normality of the sheltered train station – would the rest of Wokingham be the same? Or would the town have fallen under the reign of total chaos just like the City of London?

Dan didn't have to wonder for much longer as he and Chris headed up the stairs and into the light of the afternoon sun, or what was left of it anyway. As the day had pushed on, so had the daylight – the timespan of the days ever falling as autumn came to a close. The town that lay before them was lit dimly, and yet despite this Dan could picture every detail like the back of his hand. As he scanned through the buildings and roads, very little came to his attention as being anything out of the ordinary. Beside him Chris sighed what sounded like a sigh of pure relief, as if the tension built up with the thought of what horrors the two were each quietly expecting dissipating with his exhalation. The dangers of the previous city were being thrown away cautiously and forgotten with the departure of the train.

Dan watched with curious eyes as Chris wandered past him and ran into the empty road; free of any vehicles whatsoever, turning round with his arms spread wide and a smile playing across his face. He cupped his hands around his mouth and leant back slightly before shouting,

"Hey, Dan! It's not as bad as we thought, huh? Everything's fine here after all!" No equally enthusiastic response from Dan was given, and the taller boy didn't bother to join in prancing about the barren roads – any seriousness from Chris' form gone in an instant. Instead, Dan turned along the pavement that led to his parents' house, the uneasy feeling in his stomach not weakening as he continued to survey the area.

Chris meanwhile, had managed to pick up on the others solemn tone and rushed to catch up with the fast paced brunette, slamming a hand of concern over his shoulder when he eventually did.

"Dan? What wrong? Everything here looks fine…" Dan only shrugged the hand from his shoulder and sped up his pace until Chris was once again left trailing behind. A low mutter from Dan under his breath with distain,

"Doesn't any of this strike you as odd? You saw London Chris, and yet here it looks like nothings even happened. Why is that?" His words were quick and sharp and getting louder by the syllable and Chris was left with nothing intelligent to reply with,

"Maybe… they stopped it getting out of the city…?" Chris didn't sound sure even to himself, they had heard the news after all – if had been that easy to control, why all the frantic warnings about staying inside? No, that couldn't have been it.

Dan didn't reply, and so the two walked on in silence, footsteps breaking through the silence that lay thick in the atmosphere. Though everything did seem in place, Chris thought as the sun sank behind the houses surrounding them, there wasn't a _single_ person to be seen. The whole town seemed abandoned, and suddenly Chris could empathise with Dan's unrest as his usually soft brown eyes grew hard and steely before the pavement in front of them. He turned his gaze to a house directly to their left, and though everything certainly looked ordinary at a first glance, Chris looked closer and started to notice… _things_ that didn't quite fit. His eyes grew wide and his face turned a little pasty at sight of the faint but numerous _scratch_ marks along the door, the shattered glass of the nearby window and the deep _blood _red stains splattered across the driveway. He reached his hand out, ready to point these findings out to Dan, but when he saw the taller boy's brow furrowed with worry, he made the decision it was probably best _not _to torture Dan's conscience any further.

Chris cleared his throat dramatically and turned his head forward, to examine exactly where the two were headed. Before he had the chance to ask Dan whereabouts the two actually were, Dan started talking hurriedly, as though he didn't want to be heard by anyone nearby,

"You noticed it too?" Chris was caught off guard, Dan was never the observant type – and he wasn't sure how exactly to react,

"I can see the marks too Chris, my eyes were never _that _bad." His head turned towards his companions and a grim line spread across his lips,

"What if… Chris, my parents I just-"The lump rising in his throat stopped him from saying any more, though Chris didn't need to hear what Dan was going to say, a thick feeling of dread sinking heavily to the pit of his stomach. He didn't let Dan see his fazed expression, and as he turned is head away and avoided eye contact with the other boy, his voice remained steady and as reassuring as he could manage,

"I'm sure they're fine Dan, just a little unnerved from what's been happening, that's all. The phone signals probably cut out or something." He smiled a weak smile, even with his head turned away, more for his own comfort of mind than Dan's. Upon hearing the mention of his parent's phone however, something sparked in Dan's brain and he began to fumble with his jeans to fetch his own. Chris only looked on silently as Dan typed in the numbers frantically and waited for the phone to ring. After a good few seconds of ringing and yet another answerphone message, each grew frustrated and Chris batted the phone away from Dan's ear.

"Aren't we nearly there? We can talk to them face to face in a few minutes anyway, right?" Chris laughed anxiously, sounding so out of place in the seriousness of the situation that it left Chris only feeling more stupid than he had before. Dan put his phone back in the pocket of jeans slowly took a left turn at the nearing end of the pavement, guiding Chris into a small but wide street full of comfortable, modest looking houses. A strong gust of wind caught them each by surprise and Dan shivered before replying,

"I - uh, hope you're right Chris," He stopped slowly in front of a neat looking detached house as he spoke. Big brown eyes gazed up at the open windows of the building, a warm glow visible through the glass and Chris found he couldn't do much else but follow Dan's eyes and stare along with him. Chris heard Dan take a sharp breath in and watched as his gaze travelled to the front door of the house.

"Because we're here." Dan didn't bother to look back at Chris for any encouragement before he walked up to the front gate, a wooden, ancient looking thing – though it was clearly well cared for. It creaked noisily as Dan pushed it assuredly aside, making his way to the front door. Chris followed close behind, and though the silence lying between them was starting to grow a little uncomfortable with unease, Chris couldn't think of anything to say that could have made it any better. This seemed to suit Dan, as though his form seemed confident and collected enough on the outside; Chris could see the frantic glint of his eyes that told him Dan was as worried as ever about his parents.

Not bothering to knock and wait for any kind of response, Dan simply opened the door with the keys hidden behind a nearby garden ornament and stepped into the house. The familiar and comforting scent of his childhood home hit him suddenly, though its usual warmth was nowhere to be found and Dan found he couldn't relish in it without worrying even more. He strode on, not stopping to fully take in his surroundings or show Chris around and went straight into the front room, where his parents were known to spend most of their time. The lack of sound coming from anywhere in the house despite his loud and sudden entrance was making Dan come to believe more in his worst fears, and when the front room lay completely empty – curtains shut, television off, nothing out of place – he realised he was running out of options.

Chris, meanwhile, had decided it was probably best to let Dan do his own thing when it came to his parents. He had followed the taller boy around like a shadow, being a new guest and all, until the front room's sofa had started to look invitingly comfortable; his legs _were _aching from trudging around London most of the day. Chris flopped heavily into the sofa cushions and let out a small but contented sigh, closing his eyes and allowing himself a moment to relax, concerned that the next opportunity to just sit and relax would likely be a while off. Moments later, his eyes pulled them back open and him drunk in his surroundings. Though the room was dim, it was enough for him to see everything comfortably. It was mostly normal furniture that adorned the small room, it was comfortable and homely – but nothing particularly special.

Chris turned his head to the left, where a quaint little side table sat next to the sofa he sat on. A stained glass lamp sat atop, along with a large and very _black _photo frame. The dark, leather bound thing seemed so very out of place in the room covered with floral print and light, pastel colours and it heightened Chris' interest almost instantly. He picked it up gingerly with both hands and Chris saw it was full to the corners with pictures of Dan and his family, making his heart tug uncomfortably at the sight. A small toddler Dan sitting atop a kitchen side covered in cake mix with his mother laughing in the background looked back at Chris and he smiled at the blackmail material it offered. A hilariously awkward looking teenage Dan, complete with a thousand bracelets (which he still had actually), copious amounts of eyeliner and an intense fringe scowled at Chris below the previous photo as his younger brother hung onto his legs tightly and grinned. Looking down even lower, Chris gazed on a much more recent looking one of all four of them standing in the back garden. Dan towered over the rest of family and was holding the camera at a funny angle so they could all fit in – signature smirk across his face. Scrawled messily in black felt tip over the bottom of the photo it said,

"_**Love always – Dan"**_

The simplicity of the comment made Chris smirk; it was so much like Dan he almost wanted to laugh. Reaching his arms out to place the frame back onto the side table carefully, his hand was jolted when a powerful cry coming from another room made him jump and drop the frame heavily onto its glass front. Checking warily that it was still intact (Chris thought he saw a small crack in the bottom corner but pretended quickly he hadn't), he sat it back in its proper place and stood up far too fast, head swimming and exited the room in favour of wandering through Dan's halls to find the source of the distress. His heart rate picked up slightly as an eerie silence quickly set back into the house; contrasting from the shout he'd heard only moments ago, it was making him uncomfortable to say the least.

Coming close to a neat looking wooden door with blurred out glass covering the middle, Chris pushed it open and leaned his head round to peer in at what was beyond. Stood leaning against a kitchen unit, looking close to collapse, was Dan – eyes wide and unfocused on the beige wall across from him. Chris hurried up to him and stood close in front on him, hands placed on his shoulders in concern,

"Dan? Was that shout… you? What the fuck happened!?" He shook the taller boy slightly to urge a response out of him, though his eyes stared straight through Chris and he bothered to give no verbal reply. Dan shrugged off Chris' hands from his shoulders and pushed the boy away from him softly, pointing a finger to the door leading into the garden without shifting his gaze. Chris followed the finger with his line of vision until it reached the cause of Dan's affliction. Whilst the rest of the kitchen, despite being washed in darkness without any lights being on, was entirely normal - nothing seemed out of place, the door Chris was looking at was the complete opposite. Dan's worries and fears were coming to life as his internal meltdown went into full swing and his mind exploded with even more question and horrors.


End file.
